Topics - Zelyhon

Hello to all, both Swap Meet regulars and new people looking for information on the event! I hope everyone's had a good year since last FanimeCon and has restocked on a lot of things that they're looking to sell to their fellow fans! This is Ben Levy, your returning Swap Meet head for FanimeCon 2017. As in years past, I'll be using this thread to try and keep everyone up-to-date on the latest happenings of Swap Meet.

-Swap Meet spaces will be a 14' by 6' space of floor. While chairs may be used for sitting, you may not use tables, racks, displays, or other furniture like that for your merchandise.

-Swap Meet 2017 will once again be held in SOUTH HALL, the big tent-like building behind the convention center. Go out the East side of the convention center (the Marriott side) and take a right. It’s very hard to miss.

-Swap Meet 2017 will be held on Thursday, May 25 from 7:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. and on Friday, May 26 from 8:00 p.m.to 1:00 a.m. (times potentially subject to some modification)

-Check-in for Sellers will begin about an hour and a half to two hours before doors open to the public.

-As we are in South Hall again this year, that means we must once again say that amplified sound will not be allowed in Swap Meet. This is the trade-off we have to make for a larger area. I know some people don’t necessarily like the lack of music, but I think that the bigger space more than makes up for it, personally.

-The Swap Meet Seller’s Agreement has been approved, and is substantially similar to previous years. Standard rules like no bootlegs, no metal weapons, only one longbox of adult material allowed per space (which must be covered, labeled, and out of reach when not being reviewed), and the like. As always, Swap Meet Staff will have final say on whether something violates the rules.

-All sellers at Swap Meet must fill out both the Seller’s Application form and sign the Rules and Guidelines. Please have these ready to go prior to arriving at the convention.

-Seller’s Permits tend to generate questions every year, so here's some general info. Please read over the Seller Application form for more information. Short version is if you qualify as an “occasional seller,” then you should need to fill out the Seller Application Form and mark yourself as an occasional seller. Occasional sellers are basically people who sell no more than twice in a 12 month period, don’t buy things specifically for resale, and are not selling new merchandise. Those last two requirements are prohibited by Swap Meet rules anyways. Be sure to look over the information and find out if you qualify as an occasional seller. Just remember, Swap Meet staff is not your attorney, and thus cannot answer legal questions about whether your specific situation qualifies as an occasional seller. If you think you might not qualify as an occasional seller, please follow the link on the form to get more information. If you know you don’t qualify as an occasional seller, please be sure to have a copy of your valid seller’s permit for staff to look at when you check in.

I think that’s most of the information I have for the moment. If you have further questions, comments, or the like, please post them below or message me on the forums. I’ll keep up with this thread and update when I can, as well as following up on posts further down the thread.

Another Fanime come and gone. That means another Fanime Swap Meet come and gone. As part of my desire to keep improving Swap Meet year after year, I'm looking for your honest feedback on the event in the hopes that we can improve on certain things for next year.

Let me just state right off the bat that I understand the general registration was an issue, as was the fact that the registration process mentioned vouchers to get to the front of the line that we didn't have. That particular confusion was on me. Based on the state of registration in the past, I made the decision that vouchers wouldn't be necessary, and thus didn't request any while setting up Swap Meet. I then forgot to have the language about that removed from the registration process, which lead to some confusion. I'll definitely be addressing that in planning for next year.

I also know that we started a little late on Thursday due to check-in taking longer than anticipated. While part of that might be from the aforementioned registration issues, it's an easy fix for next year. I'll probably just start seller check-in two hours early instead of an hour and a half. We had two hours on Friday and were able to get a larger number of people in and ready to go early.

So, with that said, any feedback you might have on this year as opposed to years past, or thoughts going forward, are welcome.

Hello Fanime Forum users. This is Ben Levy, your returning head of Swap Meet. Like last year, I wanted to have a centralized thread for Swap Meet information and questions. This is going up a bit later this year than last year, but rest assured that we are still working to make sure everything from Swap Meet runs as smoothly as possible this year. I was quite happy with how things went last year, and we are taking some of the feedback we received into account in deciding what changes to make for this year. Be sure to check the other official Fanime means of communication (Twitter, Facebook, site, etc.) for news, but I’ll do my best to have this be a centralized location for that information.

-Swap Meet 2016 will once again be held in SOUTH HALL, the big tent-like building behind the convention center. Go out the East side of the convention center (the Marriott side) and take a right. It’s very hard to miss.

-Swap Meet 2016 will be held on Thursday, May 26 from 7:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. and on Friday, May 27 from 8:00 p.m.to 1:00 a.m.

-Check-in for Sellers will begin about an hour and a half before doors open to the public.

-As we are in South Hall again this year, that means we must once again say that amplified sound will not be allowed in Swap Meet. This is the trade-off we have to make for a larger area. I know some people don’t necessarily like the lack of music, but I think that the bigger space more than makes up for it, personally.

-Swap Meet spaces will be $40 per day per space.

-Swap Meet spaces will be 14 feet wide by 6 feet deep.

-The final floor plan for Swap Meet is being finalized, but we should still have more than enough spots for everyone, based on last year’s numbers. There might be fewer overall spaces, but we had more than enough room last year and some contingencies in place should extra space be necessary.

-The Swap Meet Seller’s Agreement is in final revision, but the rules are mostly the same as last year. There have been some changes, though, so be sure to read it over again.

-All sellers at Swap Meet must fill out both the Seller’s Application form and sign the Rules and Guidelines. Please have these ready to go prior to arriving at the convention.

-Seller’s Permits were a big question last year. Please read over the Seller Application form for more information. Short version is if you qualify as an “occasional seller,” then you simply need to fill out the Seller Application Form and mark yourself as an occasional seller. Occasional sellers are basically people who sell no more than twice in a 12 month period, don’t buy things specifically for resale, and are not selling new merchandise. Those last two requirements are prohibited by Swap Meet rules anyways. Be sure to look over the information and find out if you qualify as an occasional seller. Just remember, Swap Meet staff is not your attorney, and thus cannot necessarily answer legal questions about whether your specific situation qualifies as an occasional seller. If you think you might not qualify as an occasional seller, please follow the link on the form to get more information. If you know you don’t qualify as an occasional seller, please be sure to have a copy of your valid seller’s permit for staff to look at when you check in.

I think that’s most of the information I have for the moment. If you have further questions, comments, or the like, please post them below or message me on the forums. I’ll keep up with this thread and update when I can, as well as following up on posts further down the thread.

Hello, Fanime Forums users. I am Ben Levy, your head of Swap Meet this year. As we are getting ever closer to the convention, I wanted to make sure there was/will be a centralized location for everyone to get their Swap Meet information in a timely manner. Last year, it seemed like distribution of information was a bit of a problem, so hopefully this will be a good centralized place to get some information out. There will be other places that things are put out, such as official Fanime publications or the Fanime twitter or other places like that, but I'll be working to try and make sure that the info is all reposted here for any who might miss those.

So, Swap Meet preparations are underway. Let me assure you all that we have heard some of the complaints and feedback from last year and are working to try and alleviate those concerns. We're still nailing a good number of things down, but here is some information that can be shared right now. This post will be edited as more details are finalized.

-Fanime Swap Meet 2015 will be held in SOUTH HALL. That's the big tent-like building behind the convention center. Go out the East side of the convention center (the Marriott side) and take a right. Last year, there was a restriction against using South Hall past 10:00 p.m., but that has been dealt with for this year, since we won't be blaring loud music or using megaphones or anything like that. Thus, the curfew that meant we couldn't use it last year is no longer a factor. Speaking of hours past 10:00 p.m...

-Swap Meet 2015 will be held on Thursday, May 21 from 7:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. and on Friday, May 22 from 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.-Check in for Sellers will begin an hour to an hour and a half before Swap Meet.

-Swap Meet spaces will be $40 per day per space.-Swap Meet spaces will be 14 feet wide by 6 feet deep.-Swap Meet will have 192 total spaces available.

-The exact number of spots and the dimensions of the spots are all still in the process of being finalized. What I can say is that, at this point, it looks like there will be more spaces available than last year and that spaces will be larger than last year. However, since details are still being finalized, this is still tentative. Considering the size we were working with last year, though, I feel fairly confident that South Hall will allow us to do both of those things.

-The Swap Meet seller's agreement and rules have been finalized and will be available to people after they register online. The rules are mostly unchanged from last year. The full text of the guidelines can be found on the Events page for Fanime:http://www.fanime.com/events/

-Also, with regards to the seller's agreement, please remember to have the agreement filled out and signed by all parties before coming to the convention. There might, might be copies there, but to ensure an orderly and speedy check-in, it will help you to have your seller's agreement finalized. If it's not, you may need to go to the back of the line and fill it out so that others who came more prepared can check in smoothly.

-The registration process is in the works. It is my hope (but, again, not locked down yet) that we will use the same system as last year. I know that a good number of people had difficulty signing up, and that there was confusion about the date signups were to begin. We are working on these issues to hopefully have it up earlier and run more smoothly than last year. When we lock down the process and the date enrollment will open, that information will be posted in this thread and updated on this post.

I believe that is all I have for now. I will do my best to update this post and to post further in the thread to draw attention to changes. For now, though, I'd like to throw this thread open to any questions or comments you may have regarding Swap Meet that we can hopefully answer or address prior to enrollment and/or the convention starting.

Edited to include restriction on amplified sound.Edited to include dimension and number of spots.

I worked as Swap Meet staff for the past five Fanime conventions. I just spoke with the previous head of Swap Meet and she said she is not running the Swap Meet again this year. I am trying to find the person who is in charge of the Swap Meet this year and to get in contact with them to see if they would like me to work as staff again this year. Any help in finding and/or getting in touch with that person is appreciated.